Can You Get DSL Through DirecTV?

Being that the meat and potatoes of DirecTV's operation is satellite-provided television programming, one might think it would make sense for the company to deliver the Internet to its customers in the same manner. While it is possible to get people online through a satellite link, the time it takes electromagnetic radio waves to travel to a geostationary satellite and back often results in transmitting delays of up to 1.4 milliseconds. Such a delay is unnoticeable when transmitting TV shows and movies, but for Internet users---especially those who play real-time games or spend time in chat rooms---it would render the service virtually unusable. Knowing its customers could do better with an old-fashioned dial-up connection, DirecTV knew this method wouldn't do much in the way of offering them a viable alternative to cable.

DirecTV finally found a solution to its Internet dilemma when it approached local telephone companies, such as Qwest, Verizon and AT&T;, which were already hooked up to almost every home in the country. As it turned out, home phone providers were also looking for a new angle to drum up business as more and more cell users were pulling the plug on their home phones. Although most were already offering DSL (digital subscriber line) Internet service, their inability to sell it as part of a home entertainment bundle was hurting business. Partnerships were formed, allowing DirecTV to offer essentially the same bundle as its cable competitors.

Unlike a much slower dial-up connection, DSL employs a technology that splits Internet and phone signals, allowing each to be transmitted through a copper telephone line at different frequencies. Not having to fight for bandwidth with a phone signal allows for DSL connection speeds of up to 40 mbps (millions of bits per second). Furthermore, whereas DSL customers were once required to subscribe to home phone service as well, a recent innovation called "dry loop DSL" gives subscribers the option to forgo the landline. And even though the additional services are provided by outside companies, DirecTV handles the billing, giving its customers the convenience of having to make only one monthly payment.

Thanks to a type of technology called BPL (broadband power lines), home Internet subscribers may soon have an alternative to cable and DSL. As its name implies, BPL uses low-voltage electrical lines to carry Internet data through radio frequency signals. A BPL subscriber would be able to access the Internet by simply plugging a computer into any electrical outlet in his or her home. While the technology has already been proven to work, chronic line noise and BPL's tendency to interrupt the broadcast of emergency frequencies has stymied its widespread adoption.